Award details

Establishment of a european high throughput NMR Centre for metabolomics and ligand discovery

Reference	BB/C511513/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Michael Overduin
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Theodoros Arvanitis, Professor Jeffrey Bale, Professor Francesco Falciani, Dr Richard Grundy, Professor Ulrich Gunther, Professor Robert Insall, Professor Michael Kearsey, Professor Peter Lund, Professor Henry John Newbury, Professor M Peet, Professor Charles Penn, Dr Jeremy Pritchard, Professor Mark Viant
Institution	University of Birmingham
Department	Medical Sciences - Medicine
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	200,000
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/12/2004
End date	30/04/2006
Duration	17 months

Abstract

Introduction: The Henry Wellcome Building for Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy (HWB-NMR) is a new research facility tht has been established at the University of Birmingham (UoB) to provide investigators from across the UK with access to the world¿s most advanced NMR systems. Over 4.4M pound has been raised to acquire the latest technology, including 900 and 800 MHz NMR spectrometers and cryogenic probes. A purpose-designed 3.7M pound NMR building has been completed to provide users and industrial partners with convenient access to the instrumentation and training facilities needed to advance the frontiers of their research. The University has also launched a major Metabolomics Programme, which integrates the expertise and infrastructure from seven Schools, and aims to address the challenges of applying metabolic profiling to the life sciences. Collectively, these new initiatives form a crucial component of UoB¿s strategic plan for the development of post genomic research in the UK. Opportunity: We propose to build upon the existing infrastructure and expertise at UoB by establishing a European High Throughput NMR Centre for Metabolomics and Ligand Discovery (EHT-NMR). Integral to this proposal is our partnership with Varian, a world leader in NMR technology, and Chenomx, a leader in metabolic profiling software development, who have each identified the HWB-NMR as their European test site. This will ensure that the EHT-NMR is positioned to stay at the cutting edge of NMR hardware and software development, which will underpin its goals to support BBSRC-relevant research for metabolic profiling of animal, plant and microbial systems and for biological ligand discovery for membrane proteins and functionally unassigned domains. Specific projects include (i) Metabolic profiling of food-borne pathogens, (ii) Phenotypic profiling of Dictyostelium mutants as a functional genomics tool, (iii) Metabolic profiling the plant: aphid interface using Arabidopsis, (iv) Phenotyping multifactorial traits in Arabidopsis, (v) Mechanistic studies of developmental toxicity in the zebrafish, (vi) Correlating NMR metabolic profiles with altered molecular genetics in the brain, (vii) Screening of lipid libraries for targets and specificities of membrane recognition domains, and (viii) Biological ligand assignment for orphan structures and domains. Management and Expertise: A team of internationally recognised experts has been recruited to operate and utilise HWB-NMR, and will provide high level training and on-site expertise for the new EHT-NMR facility. Prof Overduin is the Executive Director of HWB-NMR and leads a research group focused on protein structure-function elucidation by NMR. Dr Viant is the leader of UoB¿s Metabolomics Programme and develops and applies NMR methods for metabolic profiling. Dr Gunther is the Scientific Director and has pioneered new NMR methods and algorithms for rapid data processing and ligand screening. The tendered application is the result of extensive consultation by HWB-NMR of its advisors and local and national users, resulting in the formation of a community of co-investigators with current BBSRC support of £3.7m to drive the science that underpins this application. Exit Strategy: The rapid expansion of the fields of metabolomics and proteomics will necessitate the continued development and sharing of skills and high level services in high throughput NMR. Building and maintaining interfaces with a productive community of academic research groups and industrial partners is a top priority for our initiative. In addition to existing demand from current investigators, we anticipate that many new groups will wish to exploit the EHT-NMR services and will seek programmatic and fellowship funding to meet this need. This will, over time, provide a framework of supportive interactions and a steady influx of projects and funding which will support the continued operation and growth of the facility. With its core operations supported by the Wellcome Trust and underwritten by UoB, and with considerable room for expansion, EHT-NMR represents a uniquely sustainable opportunity to help establish the UK as a leader in the integration of post genomic sciences.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Biomolecular Sciences (BMS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Research Equipment Initiative 2004 (RE4) [2004]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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